Truth or Dare?
by katieanddiego
Summary: Barney and Robin play Truth or Dare, but it doesn't end up the way they expected. Takes place Season 2.
1. How It Started

"You want to play truth or dare?" Barney asks.

Robin snorts. "Truth or dare? I haven't played that since high school!"

"So? It's better than playing Battleship over and over again. And plus, you keep cheating at that."

"Hey, you cheated as well! And anyway, I've forgotten the rules."

Barney blinks. "You've forgotten the rules? There are no rules! You just pick a truth or a dare, and then you do it! God, do they teach you anything in Canada?"

Robin pauses, and smirks. "Fine, I'll do it. But only so I can make you do something stupid."

"And each time you refuse to answer or if you don't do the dare, you'll have to take one piece of clothing off. Deal?"

Robin only hesitates for a second before she grins and says "Deal! I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"That's the spirit, Scherbatsky. All right, I'll start. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Do you_ really_ love Ted?"

"What? Do I have to answer that?"

"Er, yeah, unless you want to strip, which would also be fine with me."

After a few seconds, Robin shrugs, and takes off her cardigan.

"Ooh! You really don't want to answer, do you?" Barney teases. For some reason, he's really, really happy about that. "You wanna tell me why?"

"No. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare!"

"Er, I don't know...call Marshall and tell him that you love him."

"_What?_"

"Come on, Barney. Do it."

"Fine. But you owe me big time, Scherbatsky."

Robin only grins.

Shrugging as if it wasn't such a big deal, Barney dials Marshall and groans silently when he picks up.

"Marshall."

"Barney? What's up?"

Barney mouths _God, Robin, I hate you so much,_ as he clears his throat.

"Marshall Eriksen, I am in love -wait for it- with you."

There's silence on the other end for a few seconds, and Robin has to hold back her giggles as she imagines Marshall's face at this very moment.

"Dude, talk! I long to hear your voice...er, baby." Barney grimaces, and Robin gives him a thumbs-up.

Finally, Marshall answers. "Barney, I'm flattered, but I've got my Lily-pad. I'm sure you'll find your special someone one day. Hey, how about my buddy Brad? He's cool, and funny, and-"

"I'M NOT GAY!" Barney yells into the phone, and hangs up.

"That was interesting," Robin remarks as he glares at her.

"Truth or Dare?" He mutters through gritted teeth.

"Truth."

"You already picked truth!"

"So? I can pick whatever I can, can't I?"

"You're boring. Okay, would you make out with Lily if you could?"

She raises her eyebrows. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Er, let me think about it, two hot chicks making out? YES."

"Hmm, I don't know. Yeah, I'd make out with her if I had to."

"So you'd rather make out with Lily than tell me whether you really love Ted or not? Interesting..."

"It's not interesting, Barney! Truth or Dare?"

"I'm going to pick an option different to the one I picked last time, Robin, because unlike you, I actually don't mind changing and trying out new-"

"TRUTH OR DARE, BARNEY. PICK ONE."

"Truth."

"Would you rather never be able to wear a suit again, or would you rather be Canadian?"

"Why must you torture me like this?" Barney groans. "I'd rather _die._"

"Unfortunately, Barney, that isn't one of the options. Come on, choose one!"

Without saying a word, Barney takes his pants off.

"Truth or Dare?" He mutters.

"Eh, what the hell. Dare."

Barney's entire face lights up.

"_Yes!_ Alright, Robin, I dare you to make out with me."

"Excuse me? Barney, I'm dating Ted! I can't kiss you!"

"But you don't seem to love him that much. Come on, Robin, you'd rather kiss Lily than say that you love him! That's got to mean something! Kiss me, Robin. And if he ever finds out, you can say it was just a dare. Okay?"

"...okay."

And somehow, Robin finds herself going up to Barney, who looks extremely surprised (and pleased with himself), and slowly, she puts her lips near his...

...and that's how, one hour later, she and Barney end up in bed together.

"That- was- _awesome_!" He says breathlessly. When she doesn't respond, he looks over at her.

"You okay?"

Robin doesn't know what to say. _Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into? _She thinks to herself.

She glances at Barney, who looks unbelievably happy, and she can't stop looking at his face. She's never noticed how attractive he really was.

"You wanna go again?" Robin finally asks.

"I thought you'd never ask!"

She's going to have to eventually face up to what she's done, but right now, she has business to take care of.

This was just something Future Robin would have to handle.


	2. The Next Day

**A/N: Hi! I know I said it would be a one-shot, but I couldn't resist adding in a few extra chapters ;) I have no idea how many chapters I'm going to write, but I'm guessing it's not going to be that long? Anyway, I still have no idea how to reply to reviews and stuff like that, but if you have reviewed, then I'd like to say thank you, and it really means a lot :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own How I Met Your Mother**

* * *

When Robin wakes up the next morning, she has no idea where she is.

"What the hell...?" She mutters.

Then she spots a sleeping man next to her- and it's Barney. All too quickly, memories of the previous night comes flooding back.

"Oh, crap."

Right now, all she can think is _I cheated on Ted, I cheated on Ted, I cheated on Ted_, but she glances at Barney and can't help but smile.

Although he may be the most disgusting, filthy player ever when he's awake, when he's sleeping he looks almost...innocent.

And in the two years that she's known him, she's never really thought of him as particularly handsome. Yet now that she's studying his face, she starts to realise how...attractive he really is. She can't believe she's never noticed before, because at this very moment, he really does look like the most beautiful thing on Earth, and Robin feels so guilty at this because she's dating_ Ted._

Well, maybe her relationship won't last long after this. But for some reason, she doesn't seem to mind that much anymore.

Robin starts to wonder what this could mean for her and Ted's future relationship, when Barney starts to stir, and slowly, he opens his eyes.

He has such amazing blue eyes.

"Morning, Scherbatsky." He mumbles, and sits up.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" She says, hoping that she doesn't sound too panicked.

"Every single detail. And it was _legendary._ Up top!"

Robin can't believe that he's being so _calm _about it.

"I just cheated on Ted!" She yells. Barney looks slightly offended.

"Good morning to you too."

"What the hell? Do you know what I- what _we_ have done?"

"I don't know about you, but _I _just had awesome sex."

"Barney! I'm being serious!"

"And so am I! Look, just pretend nothing happened. Ted won't find out. Anyway, I'm sure you've cheated with plenty of other guys before, so why are you so upset now?"

Barney pauses for a second, and then goes wide-eyed.

"Oh God, you love Ted, don't you? Seriously, step away from me, I don't want to catch _feelings-_"

Robin punches him in the arm.

"I never said I loved him!" To be honest, she's not quite sure how she feels about Ted, but all she knows is that Barney was a lot more likeable when he was sleeping.

"So why are you so scared about him finding out?"

"Because- because...because...because he's my boyfriend!"

Barney groans.

"That's the worst excuse I've ever heard, Scherbatsky! And anyway, he won't find out if we don't say anything."

Robin's close to freaking out, and she doesn't know why because Barney's right. She's cheated with countless guys, and she's never felt like this before. So why now?

Barney must have sensed that Robin's still upset, so he clears his throat.

"Okay, in the unlikely event that he _does _find out, I'll say it's my fault, okay? Just my way of saying thank you to an absolutely mind-blowing night." He winks, as if he's just done her a huge favour.

"But it _was_ your fault!"

"Er, how exactly was it my fault?"

"You dared me to make out with you!"

"And you could've refused, and taken off one piece of your clothing, but you didn't!"

Robin realises that he's right, but that doesn't mean she's going down without a fight.

"You- you got me drunk!" She says desperately. Actually, she doesn't really remember if alcohol was involved or not, but there _had_ to be. Why else would she have slept with him?

"How dare you, madam? Do you really think that I would do such a- well, actually, yeah, I probably would have. But we only had, like, a beer, and that's it!"

"Damn it! Okay, let's just say it was both our fault. But it won't matter, because Ted will never find out!"

"That's what I've been trying to say-"

"Okay. As soon as I leave, _this never happened._ Agreed?"

"Agreed."

And as Robin walks out, she knows that she has to tell Lily about it. She'd know what to do.

The only thing that she forgets is that Lily Aldrin can _never _keep a secret.


	3. Telling Lily

Robin comes rushing into Ted, Lily and Marshall's apartment. Banging hard on the door twice, she waits for someone to come out.

She prays that it won't be Ted.

Luckily, the door is opened by Lily, and Robin breaths a sigh of relief.

"Where's Ted?" She asks urgently.

"Robin? Why are you here so early?"

"Where's Ted?" Robin repeats.

"Er, I think he and Marshall went to that old college bar a few minutes ago. Apparently another kid had beaten Marshall's old skee-ball record or something, and they''re going there to "reclaim Marshall's title". Why, what's happened?"

Now Robin doesn't really know what to say. How exactly do you reveal you just cheated on your boyfriend, anyway? This wasn't high school. She remembers when she cheated on a chubby, donut-obsessed, acne-covered teenager named Turk Grimsby (or something like that) back in Canada. All she said was "Sorry, I did it with Simon. No hard feelings?" and that was it. Sure, Turk cried for a week or so, but she never really had any real feelings for him. In fact, she's pretty sure she only dated him because his dad kind of looked like Paul Schaffer.

It's a lot more different with Ted.

"Robin? Sweetie, are you okay? You're kinda spacing out."

Robin blinks, and tries to laugh.

"Er, yeah, I'm fine."

"So what happened?"

"...have you ever played truth or dare?"

Lily looks confused, but nods.

"Yeah, Marshall and Ted and I used to play it a lot back in Wesleyan...we get some sandwiches, listen to some music, you know, the usual stuff. But we haven't played it since the night we went too far and set dormitories on fire..."

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing."

"Well, Barney and I played it last night."

"Okay, that explains Barney's phone call to Marshall. I have to say though, he was worryingly really pleased for the next few hours..."

Robin can't help smiling at that.

"...and wow, Ted wouldn't shut up about it. Although I think he was just offended that Barney didn't pick_ him._.."

Her smile instantly vanishes when Lily mentions Ted.

Lily continues rambling for a minute, and then pauses. She looks at Robin accusingly. "Wait a minute! Why the hell were you with Barney last night?"

Robin grimaces, takes a deep breath and recounts the previous night.

* * *

Last night, at around 11 pm, Robin was watching TV alone in her apartment when she realized that she had gotten a voice mail from her father. Although excited at first, by the time she had finished, she was anything but excited.

"RJ." He had said. "How is New York? Just a reminder that I will never visit you, because as I said before, I absolutely despise it. I just do not understand why you would leave Vancouver to come _here_. You know, a couple of my hunting acquaintances had asked where you were, and I was forced to tell them that you were in a coma. Do you not understand what I have gone through in order to give you a good life? I even gave you my name! What more do you want? Let me ask you this, RJ, why do you detest me so much? You know I would have preferred a boy, and yet you became a singing hooligan named _Robin Sparkles_? Giving you my name was a great honor, RJ, a _great _honor, and I will not stand for you completely trash it. You know, sometimes I do wonder if life would have been easier if you died from malnutrition on that wolf hunt. It certainly would have saved me a lot of shame. Goodbye."

It wasn't anything especially insulting (some of the things that he told her would've completely _destroyed_ most young girls), but at that very moment, with being stuck at a crappy news show and everything, she had never felt more like a failure. She was going to shrug it off, as she had done ever since she was six, but she felt so...empty. Without really thinking, she rang Ted.

He didn't answer.

Of course, Robin should have called Lily instead. Lily was her best friend, after all. But with the wedding coming up so soon, she didn't want to get in the way of her busy planning.

And that's how, ten minutes later, she ended up in Barney's apartment. There was no explaining, no expressing her feelings, she had simply called him and went "You wanna hang?", and for some reason he just went with it. Maybe he had sensed that something was up- but the most logical explanation was that he was just bored.

They had played Battleship for a while, when Barney suggested Truth or Dare.

* * *

Robin tells Lily every single detail of the game (and she swears that Lily got really...interested when Robin said that she would have made out with her if she really had to), but by the time she gets to the part where Barney dares her to make out with him, Lily suddenly understands and points a finger at her.

"You..you cheated on Ted? With _Barney?_"

Lily looks bewildered, and just a bit pissed, and Robin nods.

"It was a one time thing, okay? And I think Barney got me drunk..."

"One time thing? Robin, it doesn't matter, because you just...you slept with Barney! You know there's like, what, a 99% chance you have an STD, right?"

"That's not helping!"

And then, Robin freezes.

"Oh my God..." She whispers.

"What? Did you just realize how bad this situation is? You just cheated on Ted! Ted!"

"No...Lily..."

"What?"

"I just remembered...oh god...Lily...we didn't use a condom."

"Oh my God! Robin, do you have any idea how irresponsible that is?"

"I'm pretty sure that I do!"

"Okay, Robin, I think that this is going to take a lot longer than a few hours to resolve. We'll need to tell Ted and-"

"NO!"

"We're going to have to tell him eventually, Robin! You can't keep something like this hidden forever, you know. And plus, he _is _my best friend as well...I can't lie to him about something this big."

"Well, try!" Robin says desperately. "Try until I...I figure out what to do, okay? Please."

Lily sighs.

"I-I'll try...but he's got to find out eventually, Robin."

Robin looks down at the floor and bites her lip.

"...I know."

* * *

Barney sits alone in his bedroom and tries to calm down, and thinks about what had just happened.

_(Two hours earlier)_

That morning, he had woken up to find Robin sleeping beside him.

She looked beautiful.

Barney was surprised at his choice of vocabulary. He had always called girls hot, sexy, cute...

But never beautiful.

Still, he had glanced over at her and smiled. He had known her for two years, and still he had _just _realized that she was truly perfect.

That thought scared him a bit. He was Barney Stinson, and he did _not_ have feelings for a girl.

And then it kind of hit him- _he had broken the Bro Code_.

"Oh God..."

But before he could have pondered more on that, he heard Robin moving and he knew that he needed more time alone to think. As soon as her eyes started to open, he closed his and pretended to be asleep.

He heard her whisper "What the hell?".

_Same, Robin, same,_ he thought in his head.

She went silent for a bit, and he assumed that she was thinking as well. That bought him more time to have some time to figure out what to do and what to say.

_You broke the Bro Code. You broke the Bro Code. You broke the Bro Code. _

_You betrayed your best friend. You betrayed your best friend. You betrayed your best friend..._

Barney felt a sneeze coming on, and knew he couldn't pretend that he was sleeping any longer. So he pretended to move a bit, and then opened his eyes. Just as he did, the sneezing sensation went.

Oh, great.

He had never seen Robin look so distressed before. Although Barney's original plan was to freak out because he had just betrayed his best friend, he saw Robin's eyes and somehow _knew_ that she was close to having a panic attack. And so he faked a smile, and tried to stay calm.

"Good morning, Scherbatsky." He had said.

And then she exploded.

Right now, he's _this _close to losing it. Robin's probably told Lily by now, and the only person he can talk to is Marshall. Trouble is, Marshall is most likely going to side with Ted. And he can't blame him, because he was the one that had caused it in the first place.

If Ted and Robin break up, then it's all his fault.

Barney takes a deep breath. Who knows how many rules of the Bro Code he's broken by now?

But all he can think about is that he had just betrayed Ted. And Ted was the first real friend he ever had.

There's only one thing he can do now, and it's to ask for Marshall's help and hope for the best. He dials his, number, takes a deep breath, and puts on a fake happy voice.

Well, he's used to faking one by now.

"Marshall, bro, it's me, Barney. Listen, I need help..."


	4. Marshall Finds Out

When Marshall answers the phone, he says that he's busy reclaiming his title as skee-ball champion or something ridiculous like that, and for Barney to call him back later. Barney's annoyed, and also kind of relieved because he didn't really know what to say anyway.

And so while he waits (and he's not really sure exactly what he's waiting for), he starts thinking.

It wasn't just the Bro Code. He hates himself so much for sleeping with Robin (although the sex wasn't that bad) and he hates the fact that he's dragged her in this situation. He realises that he's becoming just like that douchebag in a suit that stole Shannon from him.

Shannon...

Shannon was sweet and innocent (well, before she broke his heart, anyway), Robin was a gun nut. Shannon had always wanted a family (and he was willing to give her one, but she didn't choose him. No one ever chose him), Robin was fiercely independent. Shannon was an environmentalist (or was that just an act?), Robin often shot beer cans on the roof.

It wasn't as if he was developing feelings for Robin, because he _wasn't_. That night, he had a bet with one of his co-workers, a guy named Gary Blauman, to see who could sleep with more girls in a week. It was the last day of the bet, and he kept on getting rejected by girls at the bar, and he and Blauman were both at five women.

He was just about to give up, when he had received the call from Robin.

It was perfect. She sounded sort of upset, and vulnerable, and as long as he played the right cards, he would had her in bed before midnight, and then he would've won the bet, and everything would be awesome and fine again. A win-win situation.

The only problem was that in that moment, he had forgotten that she was dating Ted.

It was a moment of stupidity, and Barney feels like punching himself in the face for being such an idiot. Still, he has to call Blauman and get him to pay up. How much did they bet on, anyway?

And then Barney remembers. _They didn't bet on anything_. They had both agreed that being awesome enough to sleep with more chicks than the other guy would have been enough.

He had just slept with his best friend's girlfriend for nothing.

"DAMN IT!" He yells. He needs to smash a TV- and fast.

"You're an idiot...god, you're an idiot...you've just ruined your friendship with Ted..." He mutters to himself. Everything's going wrong and he has no idea what to do.

And then someone's pounding on the door.

"Robin?" Barney calls out hopefully. He needs to talk to her.

"It's Marshall!"

Marshall? What the hell was he doing there?

"What? I thought you and Ted were at that college bar?"

"Yeah, but I came down here soon after. Open the door."

Barney lets Marshall in, and as soon as he steps into the house, Marshall proceeds to slap him right in the face.

"That's three!" He yells.

"What the f-" Barney mutters, rubbing his face. Damn, Marshall's slaps hurt.

"Lily called me and told me that you slept with Robin. What the hell, Barney? What were you thinking?"

Lily? Oh, god. Robin had obviously told her as soon as she left. Still, he couldn't really blame her.

"It was a bet." He mumbles.

"You potentially destroyed Robin and Ted's relationship because of a _bet_? What were you thinking?"

"It was a moment of weakness..."

"A moment? No, Barney, you do this all the time! You have to stop treating everything like a _game_- and you know what? Ted's going to be pissed when he finds out."_  
_

Barney looks at Marshall, panicked. "He can't find out!"

"He's my best friend, Barney, and I can't keep something like that about him!"

"I'll pay you! No, I'll get the guys at work to stop calling you sasquatch-"

"-they call me sasquatch?"

"That's not the point! Marshall, if you're a bro, you'll help me. You don't think I'm going through enough right now? You know, I just broke the Bro Code and-"

"-the Bro Code isn't real! And don't give me one of your fake history lessons, because this is serious."

"What am I supposed to do, then?" Barney asks, and he hopes that he sounds calm.

"I don't know. But I do know that Ted's my best friend, and your really good friend..."

Barney doesn't even have the heart to correct him.

"-and so we can't betray him like this."

Barney closes his eyes for a moment, and sighs.

"Okay. I'll tell Ted eventually. But in the meantime, I need to figure out how. I- I don't want to hurt his and Robin's relationship anymore, okay? So could you keep it quiet for now?" He's aware of how un-Barney he sounds, but for some reason he was to make sure Robin doesn't get blamed. He 's tells himself that it's because he's guilty, but he can't shake the feeling that it's more than that.

Marshall nods. "Okay, Barney, but Ted will have to find out sooner or later."

"You think I don't know that? Alright, Marshall, I'll give you one hundred dollars if you keep quiet about it for at least three weeks.

"Three weeks? I can barely keep something from Ted for three days!"

"One hundred dollars, Marshall. Come on."

And because Marshall's sort of broke, he accepts the money.

"Only three weeks, Barney. After that, I can't guarantee anything."

"Good enough for me."

* * *

(Three weeks later)

Somehow, to Robin's immense relief, Lily and Marshall haven't said anything to Ted for around three weeks now. They've been acting a little strange around him, but Ted's barely even noticed. Something tells her that he's going through bigger things at the moment, but she doesn't know what. She's almost forgotten about her and Barney's ordeal (okay, that wasn't true), but right now, she can't really ponder about it.

She's been throwing up like crazy for the last few days.

It's immensely annoying when she have a job as a news anchor and she can't stop vomiting, but she's managing.

But the most annoying thing is that she's feeling incredibly tired as well. Normally, she'd think it was because of the stress, but for some reason she thinks that it's more than that.

Still, she knows that Ted will have to find out about her and Barney sooner or later, and she's dreading it, but at the moment she's sort of occupied with throwing up. She's been feeling awful nowadays, and wonders if Barney would've still slept with her if she had looked like this before.

And she's made up her mind now. Maybe she and Ted just aren't the best together, because she doesn't feel that guilty. It's more about the fact that she's scared about what he's going to say when he finds out. Maybe it's because she's ill, but she actually thinks that Barney was way better than Ted in bed.

Well, he's certainly had a lot of practice.

But before she can think about that, she feels another fresh wave of nausea coming on. Oh, great.

Hell, with the vomiting every morning, it's almost as if she's-

Wait.

Almost as if she's...

_Pregnant._

What?

She waits for a few seconds in silence, and then it hits her.

The world suddenly stops.

Everything's getting blurry.

Oh, God.

No.

Robin suddenly can't feel like she can't breathe.

There's no more air in her lungs.

"NO!" She screams out.

No.

No.

She feels as if she's drowning.

"No. No, no, no, no, no."

She can't have a baby.

She can't.

And then she remembers that she and Barney didn't even use a condom.

"_Shit!_" She mutters, and something inside her snaps.

Robin's doubled over and sobbing, and she shouldn't be. A normal person would be jumping up and down at the idea of being pregnant.

She's not a normal person.

She imagines a human inside her, eating everything she's eating, and then bursting out of her nine months later, and she feels absolutely sick.

The baby could be Ted's or Barney's.

If it was Ted's, she'd be forced to marry him and raise more kids.

If it was Barney's, then she'd have to be together with him.

She didn't even have any feelings for Barney!

She feels as if her windpipe is crushing itself, as if her throat's constricting, as if everything is fading away.

She'd have to buy a pregnancy test first, but at the moment, she's vomiting again and she doesn't know whether it's because she might be pregnant or because she's having a panic attack.

She feels like she's dying.

Ted and Barney have to know sooner or later, but right now, the only thing Robin can do is curl up into a ball and focus on her breathing.

"Oh God..."


End file.
